General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Oculus Should Refund Kickstarter Money

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 02:53 PM PDT

Column: Oculus should do the right thing

Facebook purchasing Oculus was an unprecedented acquisition. No Kickstarter company has ever been bought out by a large corporation prior to their crowdfunded project being released--at least not on the immense scale of $2 billion.   

The surprising acquisition has spurred a lot of animosity from virtual-reality enthusiasts, most notably from the original Kickstarter backers.

oculus rift meme

Several Scumbag Oculus memes have gone viral.

Is the hate unwarranted? Perhaps some of it, but many of the Kickstarter backers have a right to feel betrayed.

Take a moment and imagine that you've always dreamt of going sailing, but never had the means to obtain a boat. One day you meet and befriend a passionate and intelligent boat builder, Ted, who shares the same dreams of sailing as you do. Ted says that once he builds his boat, you'll be able to go sailing on it, whenever you please. Sounds perfect, doesn't it? But because Ted needs funds to build the boat, he asks you for a donation. Because you fervently believe in his vision, capabilities, and promise, you comply. After several months, Ted takes you out on some test runs. You find the ship to be shaping up nicely and can already imagine yourself sailing the seven seas with it. Then, all of a sudden, some rich executives walk by and throw a boatload of cash at Ted to acquire it. 

The original Oculus Rift Kickstarter video

Ted, by textbook definition, just sold out. And in doing so, crossed the boundaries between the trust and vision that you guys shared together. Still, Ted assures you that once he's done building the boat, you'll still be able to take it out on joyrides whenever you want, but deep down inside, you know the execs hold the keys to the ship, and you can't help but fear that they may wreck it.

This is analogous to how Oculus says no changes will be made to their original vision, though it's difficult to imagine a future where Facebook won't try and integrate their services into it, pester you with annoying ads, or steer VR away from its original open-source/mod-friendly gaming intention. 

If that's not an infuriating situation, I don't know what is. Is what Oculus did illegal? No, but Oculus did break a gentleman's agreement. They violated an unwritten rule. It's like a friend who asks to borrow five bucks, wins the lottery, and doesn't pay you back. 

Now, to be clear, as a VR enthusiast, I am not entirely against the Facebook acquisition myself. I do think that a lot of good can come from the situation. Up until this point, Oculus has had to rely on off-the-shelf parts, but with the backing of Facebook, Oculus should have the capital to actively design, develop, and manufacture the parts they need. 

As it stands right now, however, the original Kickstarter funds are no longer needed, and Oculus has benefited greatly from the initial investment. In the process, a great deal of trust has been violated from the community that put Oculus on the map. Now does Oculus have to do anything to rectify this? No. But if they want to win back some goodwill, they should. What could the company do to make amends? For one thing, they could give every Kickstarter backer an Oculus Rift, no matter how much they originally donated. But I believe that the most obvious method to solving a problem is often the best way to solve a problem: Oculus should give the original backers their money back.

BlackBerry Posts $423 Million Loss in Fourth Quarter, CEO Eyes Brighter Times Ahead

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 11:21 AM PDT

BlackBerry John ChenBig losses have become all-too-familiar for BlackBerry

The numbers are in for BlackBerry's fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, and once again, they're not pretty. To get some of the bigger ones out of the way, BlackBerry posted a $423M loss, or $0.08 per share diluted, for Q4, which contributed to a $5.9 billion loss for entire year. Despite the heavy losses, BlackBerry's recently inaugurated CEO John Chen said he was "very pleased" with how things are going. Confused?

Though BlackBerry has suffered some heavy losses, they're not as big as they could otherwise have been without the cost cutting measures Chen recently put in place. Compared to the same quarter a year ago, operating expenses are down 51 percent.

"I am very pleased with our progress and execution in fiscal Q4 against the strategy we laid out three months ago. We have significantly streamlined operations, allowing us to reach our expense reduction target one quarter ahead of schedule," Chen said (PDF). "BlackBerry is on sounder financial footing today with a path to returning to growth and profitability."

This is the first quarter of an eight-quarter turnaround plan, and assuming it works out, more losses are in store. Chen doesn't expect cash flow to reach a break even point until the end of fiscal 2015, with a return to profitability expected in 2016.

For that to happen, Chen's gamble on returning to BlackBerry's roots will need to pay off. After witnessing the failed attempt at winning back customers with BlackBerry 10 devices, the Canadian handset maker brought back the classic QWERTY keyboard by launching the Q20 last month. As another throwback to the past, the company is planning to bring back the BlackBerry Bold.

BlackBerry Meeting

On top of that, Chen is shifting some focus onto software and services, especially its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) program, which now stands at 113 million registered users and 85 million monthly active users. Furthermore, Chen is considering a desktop version of the app, so that users could begin a conversation on their PC and pick up where they left off on their mobile device.

Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Microsoft Finalizes Design of Kinect for Windows Version 2 Sensor

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 09:10 AM PDT

Kinect for Windows v2Microsoft gives a glimpse of the Kinect for Windows v2's final hardware design

Despite the occasional rumors to the contrary, Microsoft has held firm that the second generation Kinect motion control senor bundled with its Xbox One console would not work with Windows, and that a special version for Windows would eventually be released. That day still hasn't come, however Microsoft did decide to show off what the final hardware will look like for the Kinect for Windows Version 2.

It doesn't look any different from its console counterpart except that it says "Kinect" on the top panel, and the stylized green "x" is just a simple power indicator.

Outside of its appearance, Microsoft talked a little bit about the hardware, saying it needs a hub and power supply to work. The hub accepts three connections -- one for the sensor, another for USB 3.0 output, and power, which supports voltages from 100 to 240 volts.

"As this first look at the Kinect for Windows v2 hardware indicates, we're getting closer and closer to launch. So stay tuned for more updates on the next generation of Kinect for Windows," Microsoft said.

Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Here's What Respawn's Doing to Improve Matchmaking in Titanfall

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 08:35 AM PDT

Titanfall ScreenieYou can test drive Titanfall's latest matchmaking tweaks

Respawn Entertainment says it's been keeping an eye on performance in Titanfall and is well aware of the lack of variety in teams. The development team has vowed to fix that, and if you're eager to try out some of the new changes, you can hop into the "Improved Matchmaking (Beta)" playlist under "Play Classic MP." For now, Respawn wants to watch how things play out in the beta to see what other tweaks are necessary before rolling out the changes to other playlists.

Titanfall relies on a behind-the-scenes skill system to find teammates and opponents. However, teams sometimes have a tendency to be lopsided, and it only takes a few matches for that to become obvious. To address that, one of the changes in the beta is that the search process will take more time to look for players that are a good skill level match instead of just prioritizing speed over quality.

The other change is that the game will periodically split the teams apart and search for new opponents for each team. So, if one of the teams keeps crushing the other, the game will update the skill for all players and find each team a better suited match for the next round.

"This should end some of the frustration with playing for extended periods when you're having an off night," Respawn said.

Respawn's matchingmaking announcement comes hot on the heels of its decision to send rule breakers to a server full of other cheaters rather than outright banning them from the game. In doing so, Respawn said it would be like the Wimbledon of aimbots.

Follow Paul on Google+, Twitter, and Facebook

Newegg Daily Deals: Western Digital RE 4TB Enterprise HDD, AMD A6-5400K Trinity, and More!

Posted: 28 Mar 2014 06:03 AM PDT

WD RE 4TBnewegg logo

Top Deal:

The world's first hard drive was a massive unit released by IBM in 1956. Called the IBM 350 Disk Storage, it came with the IBM 350 RAMAC system. The 350 measured 60 inches (L) by 68 inches (H) by 29 inches (D) and had 50 magnetic disks containing 50,000 sectors. It had a small air compressor, electronic and pneumatic controls, and 5MB of storage capacity. Compare that to today's top deal for a Western Digital RE 4TB 3.5-inch Enterprise Internal Hard Drive for $310 with free shipping (normally $335 - use coupon code: [EMCPGHE27]). It's devoid of an air compressor, but it does have 64MB of cache, a SATA 6Gbps interface, a 7200 RPM spindle speed, and multi-axis shock sensor, to name some of the highlights.

Other Deals:

AMD A6-5400K Trinity 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 65W Dual-Core Desktop APU for $55 with free shipping (normally $60 - use coupon code: [EMCPGHE26])

Raidmax RX-850AE 850W ATX12V Ready 80 Plus Gold Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply for $80 with free shipping (normally $120 - use coupon code: [EMCPGHE222]; additional $20 Mail-in rebate)

Kingston DataTraveler SE9 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive for $8 with free shipping (normally $10 - use coupon code: [EMCPGHE62])

PNY XLR8 SSD9SC240GMDA-RB 2.5-inch 240GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive for $120 with free shipping
Posted by Shri Krishna

Total Pageviews

statcounter

View My Stats